1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved weep hole screen and method of installing the same for covering weep holes in masonry buildings.
2. Description of the Related Art
In masonry buildings, the exterior walls are usually provided with a number of weep holes to allow adequate ventilation of the space between the exterior walls and the interior walls. Weep holes are typically formed during exterior wall construction by simply not placing mortar in the gap between two adjacent bricks. Although weep holes are useful for providing ventilation, they also present a problem of intrusion of insects and rodents into the walls.
In view of that problem, a number of types of weep hole screens have been developed over the years. However, each of the prior weep hole screens has significant drawbacks. Most of the existing weep hole screens are designed for installation after the construction of the walls and therefore involve some attempt to fasten the weep hole screens on the exterior of the walls. Examples of such weep hole screens include U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,493 to Torres III, U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,048 to Berger, U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,594 to Desselle, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,795 to Balamut et al., each of which is incorporated herein by reference. Such designs that involve the use of mechanical fasteners are problematic because of the difficulties of using mechanical fasteners in masonry. Specifically, mechanical fasteners do not readily penetrate and hold in masonry but tend to grind to powder or chip away the masonry. Additionally, some of the existing designs involve movable parts, which unnecessarily increases the level of complexity for manufacture and installation and increases the cost. Because of those drawbacks, it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide a weep hole screen that requires no mechanical fasteners, has no moving parts, is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and install.